When Christy Clark became premier, she promised open, inclusive government that would engage the citizens of British Columbia.
She was lauded for her communications skills; after all she ascended to the top political job in the province riding her popularity as a radio talk show host.
But 53 weeks later, the BC Liberal party is floundering in the opinion polls and Clark is less popular than opposition leader Adrian Dix.
She has only herself to blame. Clark’s first year in office has been a series of missteps and misjudgments. When she campaigned for the leadership of the Liberal party, she promised a quick election as a way to expunge the bad taste left with voters by Gordon Campbell’s waning reign, and to make her new-look leadership more accountable. It never happened. And she continues to drag her feet on setting a date for two byelections in the Lower Mainland.
She made a public pronouncement of shaming Stanley Cup rioters by promising televised trials for those charged then had to back off when it became apparent the already overburdened legal system would grind to a halt from all the challenges by camera-shy defendants, their lawyers and prosecutors. Her showdown with teachers has mobilized the labour movement and disenfranchised her from unionized workers of all stripes.
Her government’s reasons for canceling its deal with Telus for naming rights at BC Place seem to change every day. And last week, her newly hired communications director Sara MacIntyre became a YouTube sensation when she tried to deny reporters and photographers the opportunity to ask her boss questions at a scheduled appearance to which they’d been invited.
These are hardly the actions of an open and accessible government, nor of an engaging leader.
– Black Press